Garment construction



United States Patent 2,713,685 GARMENT CONSTRUCTION Samuel Nachem, Yonkers, N. Y.

Application November 21, 1952, Serial vN0. 321,876

3 Claims. (Cl. 2-243) This invention relates to improvements in garment construction having readily adjustable length.

In my U. S. Patent 2,535,224 granted December 26, 1950, there is disclosed a desirable arrangement for enabling the length, bottom or hem of a garment to be readily altered. The arrangement described in my patent is applicable to skirts, dresses, slacks, coats, sleeves, trousers, etc. and makes use of an inside folded tape which is independent of but attached, as by stitching, to the bottom of the garment which forms a hem construction. The edge of the garment is folded upwardly and inwardly around, and held in position by the inside tape. In some applications of such hem construction, for example in a child's dress having light weight fabrics, the use of a tape or binding may be objectionably bulky.

Among the objects of the present invention are: to provide a garment construction wherein the length may be altered with speed and ease, and which eliminates the need for an inside tape or binding strip; to provide an adjustable garment construction wherein the length can be increased by predetermined amounts, according to the size of the garment desired, solely by the single operation of cutting stitching; to provide an adjustable length garment particularly suitable for light weight fabrics,

wherein the folds or hem constitute a single continuous fabric with the garment per se and which permits incremental alteration in length with minimum difliculty and maximum ease; and to enable the manufacture of an improved readily alterable hem construction wherein the adjustment is concealed and does not mar the appearance of the garment.

In brief, the foregoing objects are achieved in the present invention, by using the same fabric as the garment to produce the hem construction with both the hem and the garment forming a single continuous fabric. The bottom of the garment is folded upwardly and inwardly in such manner as to produce both an inner and an outer fold, the bottom edges of which are spaced from each other. The end of the fabric constituting the doublefold hem is attached, as by stitching, to the garment. The sides of the inner fold are stitched together (but not to the sides of the outer fold) along a plurality of spaced parallel horizontal lines to produce rows of stitching. This arrangement permits as many different adjustments in length as there are parallel rows of stitching between the sides of the inner fold.

An advantage of the hem construction of the invention is that there is obtained a wider range of adjustments with greater ease and speed of alteration than is possible in prior garment hem constructions. A further advantage resides in the application of the invention to garments of light weight fabrics wherein a wide range of adjustments are desired with minimum difficulty and minimum bulk.

A more detailed description of the invention follows, in conjunction with a drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the hem construction of the invention comprised of inner and outer folds constituting a continuation of the garment and made from a single piece of fabric, with two spaced parallel rows of stitching between sides of the inner fold.

Fig. 2a is a vertical cross-sectional view of the hem construction of the invention with four spaced parallel rows of stitching between the sides of the .inner fold; and

Figs. 2b to 2e, respectively, are vertical cross-sectional views of the hem construction of Fig. 2a and indicate the different lengths of the garment as the rows of stitches are successively removed. Thus, the garment of Fig. 2b is longer than the garment of Fig. 2a by an increment determined by the spacing between the top two rows of stitching of the inner fold, because the top row of stitching of Fig. 2a has been removed, permitting the outer fold to lengthen at the expense of the inner fold. Fig. 2e shows the maximum length of garment when all four rows of stitching of the inner fold have been removed, and the both folds merge into a single fold.

Throughout the figures of the drawing, the same parts are designated by the same reference numerals.

Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawings in more detail, there is shown a hem construction made from a single piece of fabric material which is a continuation of the main outside covering or facing fabric. The covering fabric is designated 10 and may be the bottom of a dress, coat, skirt, trousers, jacket, slacks or the like. In the case of a dress, the covering fabric is preferably a lightweight material which lends itself with advantage to use with the present invention. Covering fabric 10 is folded at 12 inwardly and upwardly to produce with upward projecting fabric or flap portion 14 an outer fold Whose sides are 10 and 14. Upwardly projection flap 14 is itself folded inwardly and downwardly at location 16 to form an inner flap 18 which, in turn, makes a new fold at 28 to produce an inner fold construction whose sides are 18 and 20. The side 20 of the inner fold is adjacent covering 10 and extends above the outer fold and is attached to covering it) by a chain stitch 22. The sides 18 and 20 of the inner fold are attached to each other by spaced parallel rows of chain stitching 24 and 26, but are not stitched to the side 10 or 14 of the outer fold.

To lower the hem of Fig. 1 and thus lengthen the garment, the stitching 24 is cut and the outer fold stretched to the position indicated by dash lines 30 so that stitching 26 appears at the new top portion of flap 14. Further lengthening of the garment is obtainable by cutting stitching 26, as a result of which the inner and outer folds merge into a single fold as shown in Fig. 2e.

Fig. 2a shows a hem construction similar to that of Fig. 1 except that there are four spaced parallel rows of chain stitching 24, 26, 32, 34 to enable a larger number of hem adjustments. Figs. 2b to 22 indicate the different lengths of hem that can be obtained by cutting the rows of chain stitches one at a time. Fig. 2b shows the increment in length over Fig. 2a caused by cutting chain stitch 24 of Fig. 2b. Fig. 2c shows an additional increment in length of hem construction over that of Fig. 2b caused by cutting chain stitch 26 of Fig. 2b. Fig. 2d shows further lengthening of the garment caused by cutting chain stitch 32 of Fig. 2c. Fig. 2e shows the maximum length obtainable by cutting all four chain stitches and enabling the inner and outer folds to merge into a single fold.

It. will thus be apparent that the hem can be dropped by predetermined increments depending upon the spacing between the parallel rows of stitching, merely by cutting the parallel rows of stitches 24, 26, 32, 34 one at a time, and there is available a wide range of adjustments which can be made with no difiiculty and maximum speed and ease. An advantage of the present hem is that it requires only a single stitching between the exposed covering fabric 10 and the inside folded hem.

What is claimed is:

1. An adjustable hem construction fora liningless gar ment comprising an outside covering fabric folded inwardly and upwardly at the bottom to produce an outer fold, the inwardly and upwardly extending portion of said outer fold being itself folded at a predetermined point downwardly toward said covering fabric to produce an inner fold within said outer fold, that portion of said inner fold which is adjacent said covering fabric extending upwardly above said outer fold and above said predetermined point and attached to said outside covering fabric by a line of stitching, and spaced parallel rows of stitching positioned below and parallel to said line of stitching, said parallel rows of stitching connecting together solely the sides of said inner fold, said inner and outer folds and said covering fabric being a continuous piece of the same fabric.

2. An adjustable hem construction as defined in claim 1, wherein the number of said spaced parallel rows of stitching which connect together the sides of said inner fold is greater than two.

3. An adjustable hem construction for a liningless garment comprising an outside facing fabric, a first facing fabric next inside said outside fabric, a second facing fabric nextinside second facing fabric, all of said fabrics being continuations of One another and made from a single piece of material, said outside facing fabric being joined at the bottom to the bottom of said third facing fabric to form a fold, said third facing fabric being joined at the top to the top of said second facing fabric to form another fold, said second facing fabric being joined at the bottom to the bottom of said first facing fabric to form still another fold, a line of stitching joining said first facing fabric to said outside facing fabric at a point above all of said folds, and spaced parallel rows of stitching positioned below and parallel said line of stitching, said parallel rows of stitching connecting together solely said first and second facing fabrics.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,761,886 Haspel June 3, 1930 1,921,467 Hymes Aug. 8, 1933 2,054,998 Winter Sept. 22, 1936 2,254,929 Bertolami Sept. 2, 1941 2,527,973 Thomas et al. Oct. 31, 1950 

